Fresh peach upside down cake
My aunt & uncle are visiting (the purpose of the trip was to go deep sea fishing with my dad and brother). They brought us all these lovely tree-ripened peaches from central Texas (there really is nothing like a real peach ^_~). Since nowadays my diet seems to consist primarily of fruit, I had bought several peach rocks from the grocery store a day or two before. I had to work today, but depending on the luck of the catch, I spent all day looking forward to having fresh fried fish for dinner and hopefully baking dessert before they arrived home.
I am not so lucky to have real peaches often, and they are such a joy to just eat by themselves. Thus, I decided to throw the (now softened) peach rocks into a cake for our fish fry dessert. I love peaches with cinnamon and brown sugar, and so I thought a peach upside down cake sounded like a good idea. Having only ever had pineapple upside-down cake, I looked online to see if the peach version existed. It did--so today's daydreams consisted of how to bake a really good peach upside-down cake, and this is what I came up with.
Recipes calling for canned peaches often added the syrup into the batter. I decided to mash some of the peaches up and add to the batter in order to add some peachy flavor (the batter was delicious, at least! ^_^)
(By the way, I was really excited about this cake because I fused ideas from other recipes but developed the cake recipe myself. Exciting times! ^_^)
Fresh Peach Upside-Down Cake
Makes one 9-inch cake, serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 to 3 medium/large peaches
1 maraschino cherry
Sliced almonds for sprinkling
1/4-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup mashed or pureed fresh peaches
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Remove skins from peaches and cut into slices. Melt 1/4 cup butter in 9" round cake pan in oven. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly over bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Place maraschino cherry in center and arrange peach slices in concentric circles around cherry. Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over peach slices.
Cream 1/4 cup butter and gradually add sugar until mixture is well-creamed and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix mashed peaches and buttermilk. Mix flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately into egg mixture until all is combined. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly over peaches.
Place cake pan on top of foil covered baking sheet for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and then invert onto serving plate.
Tip: The skins from stone fruits like peaches and apricots, as well as tomatoes, can be removed easily by immersing the fruit in boiling water for 15-30 seconds and then immediately plunging them into cold water. The skins should then easily slide off (if they don't, either your fruit is not quite ripe or just needs to be in the boiling water a bit longer).
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I love fresh peaches!
I am not so lucky to have real peaches often, and they are such a joy to just eat by themselves. Thus, I decided to throw the (now softened) peach rocks into a cake for our fish fry dessert. I love peaches with cinnamon and brown sugar, and so I thought a peach upside down cake sounded like a good idea. Having only ever had pineapple upside-down cake, I looked online to see if the peach version existed. It did--so today's daydreams consisted of how to bake a really good peach upside-down cake, and this is what I came up with.
Recipes calling for canned peaches often added the syrup into the batter. I decided to mash some of the peaches up and add to the batter in order to add some peachy flavor (the batter was delicious, at least! ^_^)
(By the way, I was really excited about this cake because I fused ideas from other recipes but developed the cake recipe myself. Exciting times! ^_^)
Fresh Peach Upside-Down Cake
Makes one 9-inch cake, serves 6-8
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 to 3 medium/large peaches
1 maraschino cherry
Sliced almonds for sprinkling
1/4-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup mashed or pureed fresh peaches
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Remove skins from peaches and cut into slices. Melt 1/4 cup butter in 9" round cake pan in oven. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup brown sugar evenly over bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. Place maraschino cherry in center and arrange peach slices in concentric circles around cherry. Sprinkle cinnamon evenly over peach slices.
Cream 1/4 cup butter and gradually add sugar until mixture is well-creamed and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
In a separate bowl sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix mashed peaches and buttermilk. Mix flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately into egg mixture until all is combined. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly over peaches.
Place cake pan on top of foil covered baking sheet for 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen and then invert onto serving plate.
Tip: The skins from stone fruits like peaches and apricots, as well as tomatoes, can be removed easily by immersing the fruit in boiling water for 15-30 seconds and then immediately plunging them into cold water. The skins should then easily slide off (if they don't, either your fruit is not quite ripe or just needs to be in the boiling water a bit longer).
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I love fresh peaches!